It takes a passionate and determined teacher to win Teacher of the Year, and Mr. Wason is just that. Mr. Wason is Lambert’s longtime chorus teacher as well as the Department Chair of Performing Arts and has been teaching at Lambert for the past 15 years. His influence and presence at Lambert have helped provide a place for students in music and arts.
Mr. Wason has always been surrounded by music, with his mother being an elementary music teacher, an impactful school choir teacher, and a music-involved family. As a child, he engaged in every music program from elementary to high school. His encouraging teachers and love for music pushed him to pursue a career in fine arts.
“I had really powerful teachers who said, ‘you should really look into this’, and by investigating and learning more about music…that’s what really propelled me to the teaching career,” Mr. Wason said.
Mr. Wason has a bachelor’s degree of music education with a voice emphasis from Heidelberg College. He began teaching in Tiffin, Ohio at Catholic schools for two years after receiving his degree. Then, he moved back to his hometown Aurora, Ohio and taught music there for five years before moving down here to teach at Lambert. Since then, he has taught almost all spectrums of fine arts, from general music to show choir, drama, musical theater, AP Music Theory and orchestra.
Here at Lambert, Mr. Wason has taken his students around the globe to perform. From Walt Disney World in Orlando to Rome, Italy and London, England, Mr. Wason has opened many doors for him and his students to perform music. These trips are especially important to Mr. Wason because they are a time to bond with his students.
Mr. Wason is very proud of the opportunities present here at Lambert. He expresses how fortunate he is to work at a place where music and the arts are so important to the school.
“I’m really excited to be a part of the Performing Arts staff at Lambert, because we offer all areas of the arts: chorus, band, drama and orchestra,” Mr. Wason said.
He is also very proud of the students currently taking a performance art class. Many performance arts students take multiple arts courses as well as other pathways such as healthcare or computer science. He acknowledges the struggle to balance things they are passionate about with other pathways. Mr. Wason believes taking an arts course impacts your soft skills, time management and creative thinking.
“One of our former students recently graduated with a law degree…and her law professors say ‘You were a drama kid, weren’t you?’ because she is always so poised and polished and prepared,” he said.
It has also helped students when applying for colleges, showcasing them as well-rounded and skilled students.
“[Former students] are not even pursuing chorus as a career path, but their experience in chorus allowed them to get into schools like Georgia Tech and Emory,” Mr. Wason said.
To him, the arts provide much more than music and acting skills and can benefit anyone. Mr. Wason’s passion and dedication to the arts program has taken him beyond any other teacher. His story and accomplishments are a model for all students.
Mr. Wason is incredibly grateful for the Teacher of the Year award, and for his students, who have shown him much love and kindness over the years. He hopes that students know how much he and other teachers appreciate hearing kind words from them. The nomination by his students for Teacher of the Year is a significant milestone in Mr. Wason’s teaching and music legacy.
